Coronary artery disease (CAD) may be considered a main cause of mortality and the prevalence of CAD is increasing nowadays, leading to high health costs in many countries. Despite the fact of the regression of the atherosclerotic plaque, the decrease in blood viscosity and the growth of collateral vessels have been proposed as improvements that CAD patients may obtain under exercise performance. Thus, the present narrative review aimed to carry out a brief specific analysis of the results achieved when performing endurance, strength or inspiratory muscle training. Exercise attenuates certain pathophysiological processes of this disease, such as endothelial dysfunction or the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques, and produces improvements in functional capacity and muscle strength, among others. Within the different exercise modalities, the most important parameter to be considered seems to be the total caloric expenditure, and not so much the modality itself. As such, in cardiac rehabilitation, when prescribing exercise, we should possibly focus on the modality that obtains more adherence in patients. To conclude, it must be highlighted that total caloric expenditure is not being taken into account when comparing interventions and this relevant information should be considered in future studies.
Keywords: aerobic training; coronary artery disease; exercise; resistance training; respiratory muscle training.